This olelongrooffan Is Seriously Bummed Out

This olelongrooffan has lived in the Birthplace of Speed for dang near three years and have enjoyed exploring my new home and discovering the historic areas located around these here parts.

For years, I have driven by a construction mesh privacy fenced in lot over on Beach Street next to those two newly completed, yet still vacant, condo towers facing the Intracoastal Waterway. Little did this olelongrooffan realize the abandoned structure behind that fence was Smokey Yunick's Best Damn Garage in town!

That was until a couple weekends ago when it mysteriously caught on fire.

This olelongrooffan can only wonder the variety of vehicles that went through this garage door during the life of this building.

Smokey died in 2001 and in 2004 this parcel was sold to a consortium of developers with the plan to build condo towers on it as they did on the parcel to the north.

For whatever reason, there were stacks NASCAR slicks stacked up out front and out back with threaded bolts securing them in place. It appears there was plywood on top of these tires to keep out the weather. Sadly, they are nearly all ruined now.

Ironically enough, I found this fire extinguisher laying out behind his shop near that overhead door.

And this olelongrooffan can only guess at what design secrets were hidden in that file cabinet back in the day.

But actually, it's okay. Smokey always stated he never wanted a shrine in his honor and now, with his garage pretty much destroyed, those hard up real estate developers won't be tempted into turning their investment in to a museum.

And that really let's this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.

The Daytona 500 Experience. Finally!

While my daily driver laptop is in the Ormond Garage getting a sorely needed tune up, TheGoodAttorney loaned this olelongrooffan one of his netbooks. It is kind of like a mini laptop and my fat fingers are working overtime while jetting around these interwebs. Why should those of you Counting Along With Me care about this insignificant fact? Well, I am reluctant to upload any images to this Micro Machine for display and that means this olelongrooffan finally needs to finish up a few blogs I have on my Dashboard. This is one of them.


This olelongrooffan has been working on this blog post for the last few months.  I just couldn't seem to get it together with a common theme. Just the other day it all came together for me and this olelongrooffan sincerely hopes those of you Counting Along With Me enjoy it. A note about it though.  Between the time I started this post and updated it here and there, my host site, Blogspot, modified their formatting procedures and nothing I can do can remove the spaces between some of the images, bear with this olelongrooffan on that issue, if you will.

Last summer and fall, this olelongrooffan posted a few blogs about the repaving of the Daytona International Speedway.

It was pretty cool being able to view this estimated twenty-two million dollar project first hand.

The technology used in the application of that was as old school as the technology used in its original installation fifty one years ago.

The asphalt itself, however, was all modern technology.

Needless to say, being up in the grandstands for the reinstallation of the catchfence was pretty d*mn cool for this olelongrooffan.

Yeah, up close and personal!

Needless to say, these images are not in chronological order.

Now this olelongrooffan can hear those of you Counting Along With Me screaming at the top of your lungs, "Why is the olelongrooffan rehashing some posts he did last year?"

Well Counters, it's like this. During one of those visits out there this olelongrooffan was wandering around and I noticed there were no guards at the entrance to the Daytona 500 Experience! So, this olelongrooffan took a look around and sauntered on in there and got The Daytona 500 Experience, gratis. And I've got images to prove it. This Experience had to have happened prior to November 10, 2010 as that is when the International Speedway Corporation closed the 500 Experience due to low admission numbers. Yeah, 25 bucks per is quite steep! It was the first time I had been in since LilJim and LilMom and family visited a few years ago.

But all is cool for me and now onto the images!

One of the displays they had up was of the 24 car (commence spitting you up there in the Ozarks) and it was pretty cool.

It had a series of cables to raise the body up in the air exposing the chassis and roll cage.

Then another series of cables would raise the roll cage up off the chassis exposing all of the innerworkings of it.

All in all, regardless of the car's number, it was a pretty neat display.


As I was looking around to see if anyone had noticed my ill gotten entry, no one had, and this olelongrooffan spotted some land speed cars from way back in the day.

Sadly, this olelongrooffan did not note who the driver of this speed racer was but it is a pretty cool looking open wheel racecar.

I did however, capture an image of this list of speed times. Can any of you Counters imagine driving 231 miles per hour? In 1929? On the beach? Today the speed limit is 10 mph.

This is the car that did it. A Sunbeam "Mystery S". Yeah, that Sunbeam from Great Britain! I wonder if it leaks oil?

It was driven by Sir Henry Segrave and it was the first car to break the 200 mile per hour barrier. In 1929, on the beach, just in case you had forgotten.

That fin on the rear of it is huge!

And, it's a dually! Just like thehorsefarmer's big *ss pickemuptruck! Two tires at each corner on the rear for a total of 6 of them treadless skinny tires.

And they sure took a beating out on my beach.

A schematic of the car was included as part of the display. Amazing technology for 1929 Britain.


So, after checking out the Land Speed Racers, I sauntered over to the NASCAR display area. Over the bar area was a grouping of current style NASCAR race cars and trucks on a simulated Daytona Speedway.

Behind them were white cars from back in the day.

It was interesting and I could identify those old white cars better than I could identify the new ones!

There was also a pretty cool picture of the beach/A1A race track from back in the 1950's.

This is a part of the original A1A surface that was raced on removed prior to resurfacing back in the 60's.

They also had a part of the Start/Finish line from the Speedway.  Notice all those signatures on it? I was one of the first to sign the newly repaved/repainted Start/Finish line. A disclosure here. After every race, the Start/Finish line is repainted so the attendees at the next race get the same opportunity to autograph it. But it is a pretty cool experience, nonetheless.

I then beat it over to check out last year's Daytona 500 winning race car. I had seen this trophy a couple years ago when I snuck into Victory Lane during one of the 500's I was at. Yes, this olelongrooffan was promptly ejected but not until I had gotten an image of it!

It's pretty cool, they take this car directly from Victory Lane to the 500 Experience.


It is still covered in Gatorade and the ticker tape from the victory celebration.

With a nod of the head to my family members up in the Ozarks, home of Bass Pro.


They also have a Daytona Prototype from the Grand-Am Road Racing series, host of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

I'm pretty sure that Coyote was is still a Daytona Prototype chassis manufacturer a few years ago.  (Thanks CarGuyDad for the clarification.)

And on one of those back roads thehorsefarmer, thebarngoddess and this olelongrooffan took during their visit a couple weeks ago we were able to take in the sight of Spirit of Daytona Racing's garage.


As I was wandering around, I spotted this display about Goodyear tires through the years.


And a recreation of the front facade of Bill France Senior's garage.

Finally this Petty blue Mini is included for your viewing pleasure. "Why?" Just check out the length of that roof!

I hope those of you Counting Along With Me enjoyed this post and me finally getting it published really helps this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

So, Today, This olelongrooffan Was Out And About

just checking out some stuff I could post both here and in the Hooniverse about the whole Bike Week thing going on down here at the Home of the World's Most Famous Beach.

I came across a pretty cool exhibition of a bunch of old Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles, the blog of which I have in draft form and will post in the next couple days.

I also spotted this pimped out 80's era GMC pickup that appears to this olelongrooffan to have had some pretty extensive modifications.

And as I was driving south on Beach Street in the toney riverfront area of the mainland part of Daytona Beach,

I spotted this ole rat rod that may or may not be to everyone's taste.

After I gathered up a few images of it, this olelongrooffan was walking south on Beach Street and noticed a not previously seen collectibles store but walked right by it.  A few paces down the street, I stopped and turned around to check it out.

I mean, I'm certainly not in the financial position to acquire any high dollar autographed collectibles but I thought I would at least see what was to be seen.

I opened the door to that rather smallish shop and recognized alot of people seemingly milling about. I was just checking out the framed stuff they had laying around and pretty much ignoring the crowd.

I then looked up and saw a whole bunch of buffed, youngish men adorning themselves in flak jackets and POLICE t-shirts.

Almost immediately one of these guys approached me asking "Hey, What's up?"

This olelongrooffan took another look at all of them and then looked back at that young man and inquired, "Am I in the wrong place?"

His response?  "Yes, you are."

"See ya."

And this olelongrooffan beat it the h*ll out of that shop and headed back to the Taj Mahal here in the Birthplace of Speed wondering what was going to transpire this afternoon down there in the World Center of Racing.

I'll keep those of you Counting Along With Me informed as I am confident somehow or another, this olelongrooffan will find out.

And knowing that I am miles from the action of that team of cops really lets this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.

Another Day In The Life Of This olelongrooffan

As there is such a dearth of full time employment opportunities down here in the Birthplace of Speed and the greater Daytona Beach area, this olelongrooffan is doing pretty much anything to make a buck to keep my daughter adequately supplied with mobile means of text and voice communication with her nearly 120 facebook friends, of which I am honored to be one.

One of the things this olelongrooffan has been doing is traveling all over greater Volusia County, Florida visually evaluating residential properties for a real estate investor out Californey way. Today I did just that.

But first, this morning as I was utilizing Google Maps to find said locations, the extremely complicated communications system here at the Taj Majal started going crazy notifying this olelongrooffan the answering of an incoming phone call was desired.

And I did.

"Whatcha doing longroof?"

And I told him, and you jeepjunkie?

Heading up to TomP's place to check it out, wanna go?

Sure jeepjunkie.

And we did. Once we arrived we realized the lawn did need mowing and I jumped on that lawn tractor so this olelongrooffan would not have to deal with the business end of a gasoline powered weedeater.

We finished up that endeavor and headed back to the Taj Mahal. I got back on these tubes to complete the geographical mapping of my day and thejeepjunkie enjoyed at least 12 ounces of his favorite cold beverage on the veranda of the Taj Mahal.

Now sometimes the requested viewing of the desired homes is in a desirable neighborhood
but most of the time it isn't.
So, after my four and a half hour, 117 mile windshield time and another 2 hours blogging my finds, the massive communication system in the Taj Mahal lights up again.

And is the case most of the time these days, it is, once again, thejeepjunkie.

"Whatcha doing longroof?"

Just finishing up my review, you?

Heading to the beach in the 2A, you wanna ride along?

H*ll yeah.

See ya in a few.

So this olelongrooffan fills an appropriately sized cooler with some of thejeepjunkie's favorite beverage, plus a few of mine for this olelongrooffan and I settle in my huge barco lounger and wait for thejeepjunkie to show.

He does and I walk out the impressive front door of the Taj Mahal and he voices his appreciation at my choice of accompanyment.

This olelongrooffan lumbers into the passenger compartment of the civilian version of the Willys MB and we head off on that ardeous trip to the World's Most Famous Beach, some two blocks away.

After some humorous wrangling with the beach access dude, we finally get through that Homeland Security Nightmare and get down on the beach.

Now remember, this olelongrooffan is being transported in a 1946 Willys CJ2A and it is bright yellow! As a result, and this happens every time thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan traverse this crushed shell beach, dang near everyone, well except those morons who choose to cross the traffic lanes without looking sideways to check for traffic, most of those beach visitors who of a certain age or a certain "It's A Jeep Thing" notice us.

Well, thejeepjunkie, in his advanced age, has developed a certain adage of talking to himself. I am not sure if anyone is listening and this olelongrooffan has quit listening a long time ago.

But, in almost Rally Driving Fashion, I have gotten into providing some navigational advice to my driver as in "Kid on the left, not looking at all....Don't speed throught this area....Watch out for that whale paying no attention to what is around her"....well you get the idea.

And then thejeepjunkie launches into a tyraid about how "You Can't Fix Stupid."

So there we are on the beach, relaxing and enjoying a cruise, me listening to thejeepjunkie going on about the stuck tourist in the Cadillac SRX and the guys trying to get him out.

"Hello, did you not see the 4WD vehicles only sign just a hundred yards previous? Dumb*ss."

It was cool though. I mentioned to thejeepjunkie not to say a word and let's see what happens.

Well, let's just say those Hoons finally got that front wheel drive recent vintage Caddy crossover unstuck with no help from thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan but we sure had a good time watching them.

We also experienced the Caddy CUV driver trying to get a couple tens for a twenty to compensate his tow crew with a ten spot when a commercial crew would charge a buck fiddy for it.

And, oh yeah, that Caddy driver was stuck, once again, just a few hundred yards up the beach.

With no Saviors in sight.

While we were cruising along, we spotted this taxivan in the distance. (sorry about this olelongrooffan's feet in this image, but after all, we are cruisin')
I mentioned to thejeepjunkie that it must really be expensive to take a taxi to the beach for the day. I mean, why not just have the taxi drop you at a beach access and walk on down. But judging by the sight of the "just a biscuit shy of 400" pound woman in the adjacent beach chair, this olelongrooffan thinks the only place she walks is to the kitchen.

Down the beach aways, we spotted this sweet 86 Caddy Fleetwood and stopped to take a look at it. That's thejeepjunkie in the background talking with the vacationing owners of this highly desirable classic automobile while this olelongrooffan was checking out that huge vehicle.
It turns out the owner of that Caddy has a son who just finished restoring a 1946 CJ2A also! He is an old car guy and we chatted it up for a bit prior to returning to that yellow classic to cruise on down the beach. thejeepjunkie hops in and fires it up. (check out the water line in the above image) We back out into the traffic lanes, thejeepjunkie puts it in first and the motor sputters and dies. He cranks it back up and we move about 10 feet before it dies again. He tries to start it again without success. He jumps out, removes the gas cap and shakes that ole buggy.

"Sh*t, longroof, we're out of gas."

So thejeepjunkie whips out his cell and makes a phone call.

And the totally opposite of this occurance occurs, the Kid comes to the rescue. By the time the Kid was able to get out of the house, apparently dinner is more important to some in that household than rescueing family, the tide had really started rolling in.

As the Beach Patrol had closed the beach due to high tide, the Kid had to park at a beach access and carry that can of petrol down the beach.

While we were waiting for the Kid to come to the rescue, that Caddy owner came over and we chatted it up all the while watching morons getting stuck on the beach. Upon approach, he asked thejeepjunkie if he wanted a ride to a gas station? thejeepjunkie's response? "Naw, I got a 17 year old son."
the Kid handed that red can to thejeepjunkie who transferred it to his 2A and it fired right up and we had a damp ride back to the Taj Mahal.

But Man! It was fun!

And it is having family to come to the rescue, wet rides on the beach with thejeepjunkie and not having to wash that Willys that evening that really allows this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.